I have a problem with oil fouled plugs.
The oldest part in the system are the oil seals on the valves so Iīm going to do those first.
The heads are World Products S/R Torquers and have regular valve springs with retainers.
The original valve setup from Chevrolet came with shields on the tops of the springs, see attachment, and the exhaust (left) spring also has a rotator on top.
You guys who know, would you when replacing the oil seals also install these shields and the rotators, do the shields aid in oil control ?

Do you have Chev springs, retainers and keepers? I have never had valve seal problems with aftermarket valve retainers or keepers as long as I had the suggested valve seals for my setup unless I had a lot of miles on an engine. Are the valve seals the small o rings or the the cup style? What max rpm is your engine spinning? If you spin over 5k the weight of these Shields can start to effect your valve train performance. Will your engine smoke more if you let off the gas going down hill? Most of the time if your seals are bad your engine will smoke more if you go down a hill letting the engine compression hold the car back. I don't think the problem is in the missing Shields. Just an opinion listen to all.

The setup on the valves at the moment are what came with the heads,
the only things I have left over from my Chev are those shields/retainers.
The springs in the attachment are Crane and were on my old heads for a short while.
The only thing I know about the oil seals on the heads at the moment are they are umbrella type.
Engine rarely goes over 3k and Iīve not seen smoke out of the rear.
Number 7 plug is the worst, if I can Iīll post a pic of it tomorrow.

Have you done a compression check? Maybe its the seal on that valve. I have installed three sets of WP heads this year and tore down all before I installed. I did find a seal that was damaged at WP and replaced it. I really like this head for the street, but any part can be defective.

In order to use the retainer Shields and the set up you have pictured. The Shields will reduce your spring height by .030. So you will need to check spring pressure. The rotators use a different spring shorter.

If you look at stock Chevy heads that use them some heads the spring seat is cut lower on the ex. then intake to compensate for height deferents. On other heads they use a shorter spring. You can not use the rotator on the S/R heads unless you have the shorter spring.

As far as seals i believe the will take a .530 seal on the guide or a .562 seal.

I didīnt know that about the shorter spring, neither Haynes nor Chiltern mention it, although I did wonder when I saw the setup as photographed.
If I take the trouble to do one seal I might as well do 16.

I removed my intake and found oil was being sucked in through a bad intake gasket installation, my BIG mistake.
it seems I didīnt apply sealer to the top of the gaskets before placing the intake on them.
Also the bolts I used seem to be too short, I had installed studs on the left head so I decided to do the same to the right head as well.
After installing the gaskets (sealer both sides) and manifold I then applied thread sealer to six studs and installed them on the right head.
The nuts are large with incorporated serrated washers, they are ARP header studs, and they bite well into the aluminum, shouldīnt back off at all.

I forgot to say, check out the manifold, I use studs where ever possible.
On the carb, thermostat housing, the distributor hold down,throttle linkage bracket and at the front for the alternator bracket.
This save wear and tear on the threads in the aluminum manifold.

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